


Tenten, ten-ten, 10/10

by hkandi



Category: Naruto
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-10
Updated: 2019-10-10
Packaged: 2020-12-07 19:41:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20981315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hkandi/pseuds/hkandi
Summary: Tenten dreads the tenth of October every year. Will this year be any different?





	Tenten, ten-ten, 10/10

**Author's Note:**

> This crept into my head today while I wrote the date at work, and wouldn't leave. So here you go.
> 
> Did this before doing real work at home, you're welcome!

(I don't own any characters etc etc)

Tenten woke up and stretched in bed, then got up and stretched outside of bed. It was like any other day, a crisp fall morning. 

She quickly bathed and dressed, and as she ate breakfast in the kitchen, noticed her mother had left her a note on the counter.

“Had to leave early, sorry! Back for dinner. It’s your day! Have a great one!”

Tenten smiled at it as she adjusted her forehead protector and grabbed her scroll before putting her sandals on at the door.

She left and wandered the village for a bit as she headed to training ground twelve. Technically, her team was not due to meet today, but she wanted to get in some training anyway.

On her way there, she came across Sakura and Ino near the Yamanaka flower shop.

“Hey Sakura, Ino!” she called out.

“Tenten!” Sakura greeted, and hugged her. Tenten allowed it.

“Why, hey!” Ino said, slyly. Tenten looked at her curiously.

“Know what today is?” Ino asked.

“Uh…” Tenten said. “Thursday?”

Sakura snorted and Ino grinned.

“Technically, yes. But, it’s October tenth!” 

Tenten looked between the other kunoichi with a blank expression.

Ino rolled her eyes.

“October tenth? Hello? Tenth month? Tenth day? IT’S TEN-TEN!” Ino shouted victoriously.

Tenten sighed loudly. 

“Oh, yeah, that.”

This was always a rough day for her. Everyone felt it was their duty…job…right….to remind her that today was “her” day. Admittedly, so had her mom, but in a sly way, and her mom kind of said every day was “her” day, so she hadn’t thought anything of it. 

“Isn’t that just so funny! You have a whole day!” Ino said. “You, today, same name! You should totally name your future children the same thing, and similar names. You’d have a whole family with this day thing going on!”

“Uh…yeah…I gotta go, lots of training to do,” Tenten said, making her exit.

This was going to be a long day.

_____________

And it was, or at least the morning so far. No less than twelve people mentioned it to her. Or, rather, went out of their way to tell her.

A butcher, the baker near the academy, different people wandering.

Naruto had bolted up to her and practically screamed it in her face.

“Hey Tenten, today’s date is your name, believe it!”

“Uh, yeah, thanks Naruto…” she had replied, trying to not unroll her scroll on him right then and there. He’d been the fifth person, after all. 

She wouldn’t have been at fault, she tried to tell herself.

She had tried to hurry to train, but forgot that she needed to stop by a weapons shop. Fortunately, it distracted her from the other nonsense, and brightened her day.

Tenten browsed and made small talk with the owners, a kind retired shinobi couple. Everything was just peachy until she was ready to make her purchases.

“Don’t think we don’t know what today is, dear,” the wife said.

The husband gave her a toothy grin.

Inwardly, Tenten sighed. But outwardly, she played coy. They were, after all, a nice couple, nice people, and treated her well.

“What’s today?” she politely asked.

“It’s ten ten!” The couple shouted at her and dissolved into laughter.

Admittedly, she couldn’t help but laugh a little too. She put her elbows on the counter as they tallied her purchases and sighed.

“You wouldn’t believe how many people want to tell me that today, it’s crazy!”

The husband passed her shuriken over, and the wife came and gave her a side hug.

“Well, it’s not every day our Tenten comes in on ten ten,” the wife said.

“So, seems like we’d be doing you a disservice to not give you a discount today!” the husband offered.

Tenten stood up and looked between the two, eyes wide.

“Really?”

They nodded.

“Really really?”

They nodded again.

Tenten jumped.

“That’s great! I wasn’t expecting it, obviously, you’re just both so…great!”

The retired couple laughed and threw in an extra item, and waved her out of the shop.

Maybe there was some hope for today after all, she thought.

For the record, she got more than ten percent off, too.

________________

Tenten was having a good training session on her own, working up a decent sweat, when two familiar people came into view.

She sighed.

“Tenten! We have been looking for you everywhere!” Rock Lee shouted, waving at her as they crossed the training ground.

“Indeed, my most hard-working student,” Gai-sensei boomed.

Tenten exhaled and blew out her cheeks.

“Hi, Lee, Gai-sensei,” she said. “How are you? Why were you looking for me? Do we have a mission?”

She was hoping it was nothing to do with the date, not from these two! A D-rank mission looking for a missing cat would be even better than that….

“No, Tenten, sorry! We thought we would do some extra training today, but Neji is sick and cannot come out. So we thought we would look for you next!” Lee shouted, bouncing up and down.

“What do you say?” Gai asked, striking a pose.

“Uh…” Tenten said, looking around. “I just finished? I might go get some food…?”

“That sounds good, too!” Lee shouted, turning to his role model. “Gai-sensei, perhaps we too should get some nutrition ahead of our afternoon training session?”

Before Gai could reply, a pack of Narutos ran past the training ground.

“Naruto! How cool!” Lee shouted.

“So youthful and hip, of course he is the student of my eternal rival,” Gai mused.

Some of the Narutos turned to look, and waved.

Then…

“Tenten!” They all shouted, circling back.

“Tenten!” 

“It’s ten-ten!”

“The date!”

“Get it?”

“Tenten!”

“Hey Tenten!”

She facepalmed and threw the first sharp pointy thing she could at them, dispersing a few. Fortunately, the others got the hint and ran away.

Gai and Lee turned to her.

“What was that all about, Tenten?” Lee asked.

“Lee!” Gai admonished. “Do you not know what today is?”

“This is it,” Tenten thought to herself. “The day I kill a comrade.”

“I do not, Gai-sensei!” Lee cried. “Please, tell me! I must learn!” He turned to Tenten. “Tenten! Do you know?” She nodded. “Help me!” he wailed.

“Lee, a good shinobi is aware of many things, no matter how big or small. Think about your teammates, and think about today, as you run fifty laps around the village. Come find us when you have finished, if you believe you have the answer. If you need to, take another fifty laps to think about it. Understood?”

“Yes, Gai-sensei!” Lee shouted, saluting him before running off.

Tenten stood there, eyes wide. She looked at her sensei, who gave her a thumbs up and blinding smile.

“Don’t think I didn’t know what today is even without the many sides of Naruto! What kind of sensei would I be?”

She gave him a small smile. “Yeah, I guess…”

“Now,” he said, placing his hands on his hips and standing even taller than usual. He pointed at her.

“Let’s get all your weapons cleaned up, and then I’m taking you out for lunch,” he said, changing his pointed finger to a thumbs up.

Tenten smiled. “Sure, Gai-sensei! Thanks!”

______________

And that’s how Tenten found herself at lunch with her boisterous sensei, who had decided they would go to the new soba restaurant.

As she had a fairly quiet lunch with him, eating delicious food and watching him order them a plate of daifuku and fancy tea for dessert, she smiled.

Maybe today wasn’t such a bad day after all.


End file.
